Imperfect 10th

I'm a slut. I'm easy. Trounce me time and time again and I will still come back to you, Poker, Fairest of All Maidens. I might even be forced to play you on a site that has taken Junk Kickage to an art form of late (see previous) due to my special brand of addiction.

Yes, fresh off a stuffing and an epic nap of tryptophantastic proportions, I logged onto the Poker Machine and, having missed the Full Tilt $12K Guaranteed, headed over to Lee Jones' pad to see if my entreaties had penetrated his cold, black heart.

Several hours later, I finished 10th in the Stars $20 MTT. I seem to be making a habit of these 10th place finishes. Perhaps I'll add a rejoinder to CJ's Top 10 Rules for Kicking Much Ass entitled "How to Bubble Out of the Final Table in Five Easy Lessons" (Lesson 1: Your End Game must suck long and hard).

Unlike the FT finish last Sunday, I did not spend the post-bust period kicking myself in my own ass. I was both lucky and unlucky all night, my stack as bi-polar as Axl Rose. I was lucky to have one of my all-time favorite donators moved to my table in the second hour and proceed to give me his entire stack almost immediately upon his arrival with such noted plays as "Calling with bottom pair vs. top set" and "Surely my unimproved AJ is good on this K-High flop." God Bless that guy.

I found myself rolling with a well-above par stack of 8K when I got QQ and just flat-called a raise from the loosest player at the table. Ten-high flop and all the money goes in. Aces for him. Yuck. I pushed the very next hand with A9o and got blinds and antes to get up to 3K. Two hands later, I pushed with 33, got called by TT and rivered a 3. Thanks, Lee!

Later, I cracked a short stack's KK with AQ, from there playing myself comfortably to the final two tables. Naturally, when we got to 10, I was the smallest, 20K below the nearest villan. Had a chance to fold into it, when a medium stack pushed with 88 and got called by a big's AQ. The 844 flop quickly dashed that hope. With a Harrington of about 5, I moved in with KQo and got called by...Aces. Thanks, Lee!

Many thanks to Jason for railbirding and providing counsel.